The Texans have to be down to 53 by 3 p.m. Saturday. Because they have first claim on every player placed on waivers by the other 31 clubs, more changes will be made on Sunday.

Teams can begin signing players to the 10-player practice squad Sunday at 11. They have to clear waivers before they can sign or re-sign with a team.

Labhart, an undrafted rookie from Texas A&M, is a candidate for the practice squad. He caught six passes for 67 yards in preseason and returned four punts for an 8.8-yard average.

Boswell, an undrafted rookie from Rice, was 2-of-2 on field goals.

Even though he punted only once as a senior at Rice, he was called on 15 times while Shane Lechler rested in preseason.

Boswell had a gross average of 44.3 yards and a net of 36.6 and placed six inside the 20-yard line.

Martin to returnpunts and kicks

After using four punt returners and four kickoff returners in the preseason, the Texans have decided on receiver Keshawn Martin again when the season begins against Washington on Sept. 7.

"It'll be Keshawn to start the season," coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's done a good job. He's gotten better. When we got here in April, Keshawn was working really hard at learning our offense and working in on special teams. I talked to him right at the end of OTAs about some of the improvements that I thought he needed to make.

"He's one of the most improved players on our team. He came back in training camp, and whether it was his return ability or his play on offense, he's done a really good job of taking what we coached him on in the spring and what we wanted him to get better on and come here and improved."

O'Brien seeks more out of Nix

Coach Bill O'Brien was asked about the progress of rookie nose tackle Louis Nix III, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery before camp and appeared in the last two preseason games.

"It's been OK," he said. "He's got to get a lot better. He's a third-round draft pick, and he needs to make sure he's working extremely hard every day to play pro football.